UFC champion Ronda Rousey can’t avoid Hollywood spotlight

Members of the media talk with UFC women's bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey open workout at Glendale Fighting Club in Glendale Monday, February 10, 2014. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht/Los Angeles Daily News)

When news broke last week that UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey would star in two movies after her title defense at UFC 170, it was a major moment for the MMA superstar.

It wasn’t, however, how Rousey might have planned for it to come out.

Welcome to Hollywood.

In a recent interview, Rousey was coy about any plans after UFC 170, where she will be in the main event against Sara McMann on Feb. 22 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.

“I ... have got some stuff,” Rousey said playfully after a workout Jan. 31 at Glendale Fighting Club. “I got some exciting things going on, but I’m not really spending any time or energy focusing on them yet.

“It’s like, yes, I have some things lined up. But right now I have to win this fight and that’s all I’m really paying attention to.”

That might change Monday. The UFC had scheduled for the media to attend a Rousey workout at Glendale Fighting Club, but that was planned days before Variety’s exclusive that Warner Bros. had signed Rousey to star in two major projects -- an adaptation of Brad Thor’s bestseller “Athena Project” and the upcoming “Entourage” movie.

So it figures a lot of the questions Monday will be about her film career as well as her date in the Octagon with a fellow undefeated former Olympian medalist. Rousey (8-0) won bronze in judo at the 2008 Beijing Olympics; McMann (7-0) won silver in freestyle wrestling at the 2004 Games in Athens.

Rousey said she has enjoyed keeping her careers separate for now, and she credited agent Brad Slater for admirably keeping a bulk of the updates from her.

But it can be frustrating.

“He’ll just be like, ‘Oh, I have a bunch of cool stuff that’s happening, but I’m not gonna tell you any of it because you have to focus on your fight,’ “ Rousey said with a laugh. “And I’m like, ‘That’s almost as distracting as telling me!’ But it’s like, ‘I just have good news. That’s all.’

“But it’s cool finding the happy balance between the two. It’s cool. Everybody on my team is very understanding and allows me to focus on whatever I need to focus on at the time it’s appropriate.”

Rousey already shot two movies this past summer, spending eight weeks in Bulgaria shooting “The Expendables 3” before going to Atlanta for a week to film a role in “Fast & Furious 7.”

After a six-week training camp, Rousey defeated rival Miesha Tate at UFC 168 on Dec. 28 and is taking on McMann just eight weeks later.

The “Entourage” movie, based on the popular HBO series, begins filming in mid-March, according to Variety, while “Athena Project” is still looking for a writer.